Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

Bathing Beauty: 1942

February 1942. Akron, Ohio. "Conversion. Beverage containers to aviation oxygen cylinders. Removal from solution tank at a rubber factory now producing metal essential for the Army. This bath, which follows the removal of the weld scale, gives the inside of the cylinder a further cleaning and removes all chemicals which may remain from the previous operation." 4x5 nitrate negative by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. View full size.

The light that makes this shot is the one behind the man. See how it lights both the subject and the figure, both giving depth and mood. Brilliant. Staged though, obviously. Also look at the movement in the man's hands, you can see the rope through them.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.